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From the ground up: how to get fit for netball

The Physical Demands of Netball

England have completed a series whitewash against World Champions Australia, England netball ‘s “Back to Netball” scheme is trying to get more women playing. but are they fit enough to play?

This article will look at the fitness requirements of netball, its various positions and then part 2 will look at how to get fit to play netball.

Netball is a classic example of a sport that expresses physical capabilities, rather than developing them. Lack of training prior to playing could lead to injury.

The Game

Netball is played by 7 players with up to 5 substitutes. Where a player can go on the court is determined by their position. The match is split into 4 quarters of 15 minutes, between quarters 1/2 & 3/4 there is a 3 minute break and half time is 5 minutes.

It requires short repeated bouts of mixed intensities to change direction, make evasive maneuvers and track players.

Physiological demands

During a game players will work intermittently in random patterns, which differ depending on position. You are allowed unlimited substitutions but these must only be made between quarters or if a player is injured. A study (1)was conducted looking at players movements, for the study shuffling is considered as sideways movements.

Centre

Goal Keeper

Goal Shooter

Walk

1877 (88)

1839 (64)

1706 (267)

Jog

1756 (305)

195 (71)

283 (160)

Shuffle

2025 (282)

2037 (233)

1430 (272)

Run

1758 (494)

143 (37)

362 (169)

Sprint

555 (274)

69 (54)

370 (233)

Total

7984 (767)

4283 (261)

4210 (477)

Table refers to distance (m) travelled during a match at different speeds with the variance in brackets.

This shows that a centre can travel twice the distance of a goal keeper/shooter with jogging and running being the 2 areas of difference, this is due to the rules that limit the movement of different positions.

They then looked at the relative time spent at the different speeds:

Centre

Goal Keeper

Goal Shooter

Standing

12.3 (1.8)

35.3 (2.8)

44.8 (2.4)

Walking

31.8 (2.4)

38.7 (0.7)

31.1 (1.2)

Jogging

17.2 (2.5)

1.7 (0.7)

2.5 (0.9)

Shuffle

20.3 (2.8)

23.3 (2.4)

14.8 (2.2)

Run

14.7 (2.3)

0.9 (0.3)

2.0 (0.8)

Sprint

2.4 (1.2)

0.3 (0.5)

2.2 (0.9)

Looking at relative times we can see that centres spend significantly less time standing, equal time walking and shuffling and a greater time at higher speeds.

Another aspect to look at is movement frequency, how many times each movement was done.

Centre

Goal Keeper

Goal Shooter

Standing

213 (53)

226 (23)

270 (33)

Walking

298 (13)

236 (20)

243 (36)

Jogging

251 (33)

38 (13)

52 (26)

Shuffle

253 (54)

157 (18)

179 (30)

Run

202 (34)

25 (7)

51 (20)

Sprint

49 (19)

10 (6)

43 (27)

Total

1266 (62)

692 (40)

838 (39)

The last table shows that centres change their movement considerably more than the other positions.

What does this mean for training?

We can start to see how different positions require a different emphasis in training.

The more static positions of goal keeper/shooter will require greater agility and explosiveness whereas centres will need a greater endurance as well as agility.

The rules of netball dictate that players must come to a stop one and a half steps after receiving the ball, this means that every player is required to brake suddenly from different speeds.

To be able to efficiently & effectively brake we need to have a level of physical competency. Kelvin Giles describes physical competency as:

“The ability of the body to ‘read’ all aspects of the physical environment, anticipating movement needs or possibilities and responding appropriately to these, with efficiency, intelligence and imagination.”

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